For many years, band application machines have been utilized to place bands, particularly heat-shrinkable bands, on passing containers. These heat-shrinkable bands placed on containers enables one to generally determine if the container has been tampered with after filling.
In the past, manufactures have produced various types of band application machines. For example, some of the band application machines are quite sophisticated and expensive, and because of that, are deemed to be high-speed machines as they are able to handle 200 and more containers per minute. As just noted, these machines are relatively expensive and consequently their application is somewhat limited.
There are band application machines that are commercially available that are designed to run at what might be referred to as intermediate speeds. These intermediate speeds would enable the band application machine to handle between 50-200 containers per minute. An example of such an intermediate machine would be a machine such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,165,215 and 5,197,259 and manufactured by Axon Corporation of Garner, N.C.
However, there exists a need for a relatively inexpensive machine that would apply bands to containers up to a speed of approximately 50 containers per minute. There are applications in the industry today where bands are applied to containers through what is essentially a manual process. There is a need for a relatively inexpensive machine that could be utilized by small packaging businesses that presently apply bands through purely a manual process. It is of course important that while such machines will yield a relatively small number of band containers per minute, that such a machine be dependable and reliable.
Therefore, there is and continues to be a need for a low-speed band application machine that is relatively inexpensive, but which is reliable and dependent.